Economic Democratisation - Devaka Gunawardenahttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=authors/devaka-gunawardena
enProposed national minimum wage law: Preliminary victory for workershttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/proposed-national-minimum-wage-law-preliminary-victory-workers
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/?q=authors/devaka-gunawardena" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Devaka Gunawardena</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>A bill was recently passed in parliament on March 11 that ensures private sector workers earning less than Rs. 40,000 will receive a mandated Rs. 2,500 increase. In addition, the bill fulfils a pledge from the Rajapaksa era to institute a national minimum wage of Rs. 10,000. While some details may be modified in the process of turning the bill into an act, it is worth addressing its content. The current government should be commended for making good on its promises from last year to increase private sector wages. There are issues, however, with the technical framing, insofar as it does not appear that there is a clear and effective mechanism for periodic revision of the minimum wage.</p>
<p>This is especially problematic given the fact that the minimum wage of Rs. 10,000 is a political “compromise” and thus does not reflect the true needs of ordinary people. The minimum wage has an important role to play in a context where organised labour faces significant uphill battles. The fact that Sri Lanka has a very low rate of unionisation, less than 15 per cent according to the ILO, combined with the politicisation of enforcement, means that often many workers are not paid even the benefits to which they are entitled. As a result, it is not enough to simply pass the current bill. There must be a concerted effort to outline a mechanism that will determine the minimum wage going forward, in addition to making it enforceable. It is worth considering proposals to create a “National Wage Council,” and practical ways of implementing such a mechanism that are being discussed.</p>
<p><strong>Purpose of the minimum wage</strong></p>
<p>In the past, employers have argued that wage increases mandated by the government undermine capital growth because they are arbitrary. They argue that wages must be linked to productivity. An ILO report on the “Fundamentals of Minimum Wage Fixing” notes, however, that wage becomes a focus of politicisation in contexts where other mechanisms for increases are unavailable. Employers’ hostility toward government-mandated wage increases is ironically a product of the weakened state of organised labour in Sri Lanka, including the fact that fewer workers are represented by existing institutions such as the Wages Boards. While there are Wages Boards established for 43 industries, they currently cover less than 20 per cent of the labour force (calculation based on <a href="http://www.salary.lk">www.salary.lk</a> and the Labour Force Survey). Moreover, the Wages Boards do not always meet regularly, and so there are concerns about their effectiveness as forums to articulate workers’ concerns.</p>
<p>If we look back at past examples, the report of the National Wage Policy Commission of 1961 offers an alternative set of principles for understanding the importance of the minimum wage. One of the last systematic attempts to try and establish a set of principles for determining the minimum wage, the Commission recommended the creation of a National Wage Council that would be staffed with representatives from employers, workers, and the government. The report argues that there are two principles for determining wages: social justice and economic development. It says that while industry must grow, this should not infringe on a decent standard of living for workers. The report also criticises vague appeals to tie wages to “productivity” by arguing that the minimum wage should be justified by the industry average, not the lowest common denominator of the firm that can barely pay its employees.</p>
<p>Since the publication of the Wage Commission’s report, much has changed in terms of Sri Lanka’s economy and its labour force. The policy of economic liberalisation adopted by all governments since 1977 in order to support export-oriented growth puts downward pressure on wages. Moreover, employers and the government have at times undermined workers’ unions, in addition to the complicity of some of the latter that were involved in relations of patronage. Countries around the world have faced the dismantling of organised labour since the 1980s. The question now is why support the creation of a minimum wage mechanism in Sri Lanka? The minimum wage will not solve all of the workplace issues people continue to face, but it forces us to consider the state of the working class, similar to the “Fight for $15 (an hour)” wage struggle in the US. It is a useful index of the collective strength of labour in a country.</p>
<p><strong>Way forward</strong></p>
<p>Ultimately workers’ issues will only be resolved by strengthening the labour movement, including workers’ right to collective bargaining. Employers are free to criticise mandated increases, and it is true that the government cannot solve every issue in society. Nevertheless, the recent bill to increase the wage by Rs. 2,500 and to establish a minimum wage is a step in the right direction, because it rectifies the fact that private sector workers especially have faced significant difficulty being heard. If employers are truly concerned about the arbitrary impact such wage increases will have on the economy, they should support a National Wage Council similar to that recommended by the Wage Commission report and which is further enshrined in the National Workers’ Charter.</p>
<p>The design of such a mechanism must incorporate principles of social justice that recognise the fact that without workers, there is no industry, and that without a decent standard of living, workers will not be able to survive. Furthermore, continuing to think and organise around the issue of the minimum wage could lead to exploring and dealing with issues in enforcement. This means addressing the lack of workplace inspections, and reported cases in which workers have not received benefits to which they are entitled. Employers need to report all pay raises in a clear and transparent manner, and in a language that workers will understand. Even still, it is unlikely that the minimum wage will be enforced effectively in a context where many people work in home-based industries, as domestic workers, and so forth, including 60 per cent of the labour force that is in the informal sector. Nevertheless, the goal of the minimum wage should be to extend the concept of labour, and the idea that there is a minimum standard of living all are entitled to, indeed require, regardless of their workplace or status of employment.</p>
<p>(The writer acknowledges the information and support provided by T.M.R. Rasseedin, the National Association for Trade Union Research and Education, members of the National Labour Advisory Council, and members of the Collective for Economic Democratisation)</p>
<p><em>This piece was published in the </em> Sunday Times <em> on <a href="http://www.sundaytimes.lk/160327/business-times/proposed-national-minimum-wage-law-preliminary-victory-for-workers-187429.html" target="_blank">27 Mar 2016.</a></em></p>
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</div> <!-- /.easy_social_box -->Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:30:00 +0000econdemo244 at http://economicdemocratisation.orghttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/proposed-national-minimum-wage-law-preliminary-victory-workers#commentsBuilding the movement for a living wagehttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/building-movement-living-wage
<div class="field field-name-field-commentaryimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://economicdemocratisation.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/P2-LIVING-WAGE-FEATURE.jpg?itok=Anu4tAnC" width="400" height="243" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/?q=authors/devaka-gunawardena" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Devaka Gunawardena</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The annual Asia Floor Wage Alliance meeting held on December 17-20th at the Sri Lanka Foundation was a critical opportunity to bring activists together from across the region to discuss the pressing needs of garment workers. Participants arrived from over nine countries to highlight issues in an industry that provides clothing for much of the world, including for famous brands such as Gap, H&amp;M, Marks and Spencer, Next, Inditex, and Adidas. While many of these brands are under increasing pressure to ensure that workers are treated with dignity as part of a global supply chain, the reality is that millions still work under difficult and often injurious conditions. The most extreme example is the collapse of the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh in 2013, resulting in over a thousand fatalities.</p>
<p>While not all workers in the region face such immediately deadly circumstances, they are often paid very low wages and encounter pressure from employers when they attempt to organise collectively. In order to address this situation, the organizers of the Asia Floor Wage Alliance proposed that a “living wage” is a workers’ basic right in the garment industry and beyond. In addition to covering the theoretical and technical aspects of wages, the conference also enabled participants to discuss practical issues facing labour organizers. There was much discussion about which brands to target, and how to formulate a strategy that can eventually shape the bargaining power of workers throughout the industry.</p>
<p>In terms of concrete steps, participants decided to use the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Complaints Commission in order to ensure that Western brands and their suppliers comply with legal regulations in Asian countries. They also considered the ramifications of building a regional alliance for solidarity to promote the living wage, which can prevent a “race to the bottom.” Finally, in addition to the immediate decisions taken, there were many fruitful and stimulating conversations.These discussions raised important questions about the state of organizing in the garment industry in Asia despite persistent attempts by some managers and employers to harass workers and their unions.</p>
<p><strong>Implementing the living wage</strong></p>
<p>Participants grappled with mechanisms for establishing a living wage. Conference organisers suggested that the concept of Purchasing Power Parity is an important way for standardising measurement across countries, given differences in average per capita income and the varying cost of the basket of goods that a family needs to sustain itself. Activists also supported the idea of establishing a living wage by obtaining two to three per cent of the Free on Board price, which is paid by buyers in order to ship goods. This percentage could be contributed to a fund that would cover wage increases for workers, with minimal effect on mark up for the final consumer product. In addition, such a mechanism would ensure that brands are made responsible for workers’ conditions throughout the supply chain.</p>
<p>Stephanie Luce, a professor of Labour Studies at the City University of New York, offered a comprehensive assessment of different ways of measuring wages. She noted that in the US, for example, service workers are often paid so little by large employers that they rely on over US$7 billion of government subsidies because they are unable to sustain their families on a “poverty wage.” In the Asian context, there is also the question of how the living wage intersects with other proposals such as a national minimum wage.Currently in Sri Lanka the proposal is to establish a minimum wage of Rs. 10,000 ($71) a month. According to the Sri Lanka country presentation by Buddhima Padmasiri, the basic salary in the garment industry is Rs. 12,330 ($88) under the existing Wages Board and with the Budgetary Relief Allowance.</p>
<p>The living wage then must be seen as part of a larger workers’ struggle to achieve better living conditions in the garment industry and beyond.Workshop participants discussed the fact that there is a necessarily political component involving struggle between workers and employers in achieving a living wage. Activists discussed harassment and intimidation in factories when workers attempt to establish independent unions. While the International Labour Organisation core conventions guarantee the right to freedom of association, attempts to suppress independent workers organisations persist. Activists from all of the countries relayed case after case.</p>
<p>One participant from Bangladesh noted that over 20 workers were recently sacked in factories that supply to a major brand, in which the employer also happens to be the leader of the local factory owners’ association. In Sri Lanka, this past November in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone, management at a factory interdicted at least six workers and fired several for attempting to form a union. There is a pervasive culture of harassment of union organisers throughout the region, but evidence is often hard to collect. The creation of a database documenting incidents is greatly needed. Activists at the Asia Floor Wage Alliance discussed the need for more labour inspections and effective legal machinery that will implement laws already on the books.</p>
<p>Finally, conference participants addressed the changing conditions of work in the era of globalisation. They raised the twin issues of the fragmentation of the working class and the decline of representation in labour movements. With regard to fragmentation, participants noted increasingly predominant trends such as subcontracting and making use of informal employment outside Free Trade Zones which supply factories. The garment industry in Asia is itself a product of outsourcing and the fact that corporations have often taken advantage of degrading labour conditions.Moreover major brands and corporations disguise their effective power by relying on subsidiaries and outside suppliers while maintaining effective financial controlThe participants also discussed related trends in the decline of the labour movement and the changing representation of workers.</p>
<p>It is crucial to address women’s concerns in a context of persistent harassment and discrimination, which also affects their ability to participate in union activities. Participants critiqued the persistent assumption that women are homemakers and men industrial workers. Activists from countries such as India and Indonesia also noted the effects of rural to urban migration and the lack of spaces to interact outside the confines of the workplace and hostels. Finally, the labour movement must be seen in the context of the decline of Left parties, and the loss of an accompanying political vision for the working class.</p>
<p><strong>A transnational campaign?</strong></p>
<p>The question is, how effective were conference organisers in formulating the living wage as a human right? While activists and scholars brought significant research and experience to bear on this question, there are still issues with such a framing. How will the living wage be implemented as a transnational campaign? Unfortunately due to time constraints, there was less discussion about the relevance of different political traditions, or the limits and possibilities of various forms of collective organization. It is clear, however, that unions must be a key part of any wage campaign and will have to lead the fight, since they are, as one participant noted, the historical embodiment of workers’ collective agency.</p>
<p>There is also an issue with the technical framing of the living wage demand in terms of increasing aggregate demand. While there have been many critiques of the “Fordist” model in Western countries, it is still believed by many that the best way for Asia to advance is by increasing mass consumption and building a strong middle class. The problem though is that, as several of the speakers noted, inequality on a global scale is in fact dramatically increasing. French economist Thomas Piketty, for example, has argued that with the exception of the 1940s to 1970s, global inequality is zooming upwards. This again raises questions about the feasibility of the living wage in combating what is essentially a structural problem.</p>
<p>The concept of a living wage stimulated participants to think about the practical context of organising in their countries. This is part of a bigger conversation about the most effective way to empower workers. It is clear, however, that any such strategy cannot be pursued based only on wage increases, or even the creation of a wage fixing mechanism. Rather, it requires democratic control over the process of production. The issues that were described, regarding poor working conditions and low wages in the garment industry, are an effect of the basic fact that workers have little say over the goals of production. Thus, the ever-increasing, punishing production targets, and the more general political pressure workers face in their attempts to organise independently.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the Asian Floor Wage Alliance meeting was a success in bringing activists together to conceptualise a living wage. The conference demonstrated the power of solidarity, fighting back against corporate attempts to exploit gaps in living standards and which encourage employers in Asian countries to compete against each other to pay the lowest wage, often times in the context of a captive labour market. It is hoped that the conversations that occurred on the margins, including comparisons between activists’ experiences, will further encourage the sustained probing of the causes behind exploitation in the garment industry.</p>
<p><em>This piece was published in the </em> Sunday Times <em> on <a href="//www.sundaytimes.lk/160103/business-times/building-the-movement-for-a-living-wage-177026.html" target="_blank">03 Jan 2016.</a></em></p>
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</div> <!-- /.easy_social_box -->Sat, 02 Jan 2016 18:30:00 +0000econdemo241 at http://economicdemocratisation.orghttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/building-movement-living-wage#commentsImpact of flexibility on the labour regimehttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/impact-flexibility-labour-regime
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/?q=authors/devaka-gunawardena" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Devaka Gunawardena</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Recent mainstream economic policy making in Sri Lanka has been promoting the idea of labour “flexibility”. The assumption is that labour laws are too restrictive with respect to matters such as firing employees or determining work hours. These laws are seen as imposing labour market “rigidity”. Both terms appeal to common sense. Flexibility in particular is viewed as creating more options for workers and employers.</p>
<p>This term can refer both to the ways in which firms restructure their enterprises, and to the general character of the labour force, including representation of non-traditional groups such as older women. Labour markets that are rigid supposedly exclude groups of people such as caretakers, who may have different lifestyle needs with regard to the work they perform. The idea of flexibility and the associated discourse promoted by mainstream think tanks has more dangerous implications, however, as part of the continuing attack on labour rights and the possibility of organising.</p>
<p>All around the world, there has been a concerted attack on unions since the 1970s, in an effort to make it easier for capital to ship jobs between different countries and pay lower wages, a process that is commonly referred to as neoliberal globalization. This has resulted in the dismantling of national systems of welfare and protections for workers. Sri Lanka has received jobs from abroad, but it also faces challenges to its welfare system. Furthermore, policy makers’ emphasis on flexibility promotes a view of society that undermines collective rights and entitlements. As a result the burden is shifted to workers who are responsible for their own individual fate, including developing “skills.” Depending on the next political regime that comes into power in Sri Lanka after the parliamentary elections, the renewed emphasis on labour flexibility could become the plank to further undermine workers’ rights and, accordingly, the ability of unions to respond to a rapidly changing global economy.</p>
<p><strong>How do we define flexibility?</strong></p>
<p>From the perspective of mainstream policy making, flexibility is seen in a positive light as a way of making it easier for businesses to operate. A World Bank report on “Flexibility in Sri Lanka’s Labour Market,”</p>
<p>written in 1994, for example, refers to the negative effects of the Termination of Employee Workmen’s Act on the ability of businesses to fire people, given prohibitively high rates of compensation. The report also distinguishes between flexibility in terms of wages and employment, with Sri Lanka having higher indicators in the former than the latter. While there are a set of laws and regulations that each refer to the process for terminating work contracts, however, the term flexibility is currently being used by employers and think tanks as a way to propose an overhaul of the entire labour regime. Rather than engaging with specific laws such as the Termination Act, reforms for which unions accepted in the early 2000s, flexibility has become a way to attack “obstructionist” unions and workers in general. Many scholars have taken a more critical view of flexibility.</p>
<p>Marxist theorist David Harvey argues that the shift to outsourcing jobs from Northern to Southern countries contributed to a new dynamic of “flexible accumulation.” This process depends on the infrastructural and technological changes that shape globalisation, in order to shift production around in ways that end up undermining the ability of workers to form unions and secure benefits. As a result, flexibility is not an innocent term referring to the possibility of creating more options for business. Rather, it also refers to a pervasive relationship of power in which workers lose control over basic decisions in the process of production. They can be moved around within enterprises, or work can even be subcontracted to smaller firms that lack legal protections for workers. This process is most evident in Sri Lanka with the noted increase in recruitment of workers through manpower agencies.</p>
<p>The attack on legal protections for workers has coincided with changes to the process of production. This is most apparent in the case of the Export Processing Zones, or “Free Trade Zones,” that were started in 1978 in order to attract foreign investment. The Free Trade Zones offer lax labour regulations and tax incentives. At the same time, the labour force is drawn predominantly from poor, rural women. Many think tanks and economists have argued that this is a positive step, insofar as more people are being included in the labour force, but they overlook intrinsic issues such as pressure on wages. Moreover, the Free Trade Zones themselves are being subjected to the increasing casualisation of labour, including the spread of characteristics similar to the informal sector such as emphasis on piece work. While more people including women might be working, they are not receiving the same benefits that traditional union jobs would provide.</p>
<p>According to the ILO’s report on “Emerging Trends in Employee Participation in Sri Lanka,” as of 2013, only one factory in the largest Free Trade Zone in Katunayake, for example, has a collective bargaining agreement.</p>
<p>Employers and think tanks claim that there is a shift to casual and informal employment because of legal restrictions imposed by the existing labour regime. The Pathfinder Foundation in its recent “blueprint” argues:</p>
<p>“The current rigidities in the labour market act as disincentives to the creation of more higher-value employment. It is important to adopt an approach which brings about a better balance between workers’ rights, rates of return to investors and employment creation. The current labour laws are leading to a casualization of employment in the formal sector with an increase in temporary and causal [sic] jobs.”</p>
<p>At the same time, these actors want to have a more “flexible” regime that incorporates the characteristics of casual and informal employment.</p>
<p>Accordingly, such a transformation of the labour regime will institutionalize the very changes employers and others describe, with the long-term effect of undermining workers and their unions.</p>
<p><strong>Will there be an attack?</strong></p>
<p>The question is why are employers and think tanks intensifying the demand for labour flexibility now? Sri Lanka’s labour movement is by no means in a sanguine state, with the ILO reporting a 15 per cent rate of unionisation among workers. Moreover, the movement suffered a blow after the crushing of the General Strike in July 1980 by the JR Jayewardene regime, which resulted in dismissal of over 40,000 workers under emergency regulations, from which it has yet to fully recover. Labour movements in other countries have faced similar setbacks. Even still, global capital seeks a more permanent victory, one which is impossible to achieve without greater inequality and social devastation.</p>
<p>Currently, the issue is not so much the economic demand for flexibility, which has been ubiquitous since the shift to outsourcing and other aspects of neoliberal globalization, but rather what it means for the political moment in Sri Lanka. Depending on which regime is consolidated after the elections, it may make a more explicit attack on workers and their unions.</p>
<p>Even if this does not end up happening, struggles against exploitation will persist. The renewed demand for flexibility is part of a larger ideological vision to change society. This includes promoting privatization under various guises, such as the subtle shift in the rhetoric away from universal education to emphasis on “skills re-training” in the event of layoffs.</p>
<p>Accordingly, further analysis must be done of the broader implications of workers’ struggles for other spheres.</p>
<p>(This article is based on a talk for a seminar on July 29 regarding “Attacks on the Labour Regime,” held at the Centre for Society and Religion, organised by the National Association for Trade Union Research and Education and the Collective for Economic Democratisation)</p>
<p><em>This piece was also published in The Sunday Times on <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150802/business-times/impact-of-flexibility-on-the-labour-regime-158951.html">2 Aug 2015</a></em></p>
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</div> <!-- /.easy_social_box -->Sun, 02 Aug 2015 08:58:31 +0000webdev231 at http://economicdemocratisation.orghttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/impact-flexibility-labour-regime#commentsDemocracy, labour rights and parliamentary electionshttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/democracy-labour-rights-and-parliamentary-elections
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/?q=authors/devaka-gunawardena" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Devaka Gunawardena</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/?q=authors/ahilan-kadirgamar" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Ahilan Kadirgamar</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>A year ago, on July 4, the late Bala Tampoe led a walkout of the trade union leaders in the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC).</p>
<p>In a statement signed a month later by Tampoe and four other trade union leaders, they explained the reasons for their walkout to the Minister of Labour saying it was as a result of the failure to implement a series of agreements spanning many years.</p>
<p>First, was the failure to implement in law, the State guarantees given in the “National Workers’ Charter of Sri Lanka, for the protection of fundamental rights of workers in respect of freedom of association and the right to organise and bargain collectively.” Next, they listed three matters of importance to workers; “(i) to eliminate the employment of workers for regular work through labour contractors (‘manpower’ agencies), and to make their true employers, whose businesses they are actually employed, legally liable for their rights in employment;(ii) failure to publish in the Government gazette the unit value of the Cost of Living Index, and (iii) to amend the EPF Act and to rectify inadequacies in it, and to prohibit the speculative investment of the huge funds accumulated in the EPF in the share market as well as the settlement of the issue concerning non-payment of terminal benefits to certain state plantation workers and staff over a long period of time.”</p>
<p>Contrary to perceptions created by employers and pro-business think-tanks that labour has a free run, the reality facing organised labour is that even the agreements and guarantees provided by the State are not implemented. And if that were case under the authoritarian Rajapaksa regime, there has been no movement on any of these issues facing labour, close to six months after the democratic change of regime. Labour rights are often a critical barometer of the state of democracy in a country. For if organised labour cannot guarantee its own rights vis-à-vis the State, where do individual citizens stand? Indeed, historically organised labour was seen as a guardian of democracy, but now it is reduced to an entity where even ensuring its own rights and the agreements it has won are in jeopardy. In this context, the upcoming parliamentary elections and the related debates on economic policies must ask why successive Governments have failed to take up workers’ demands, and what this means for ensuring “good governance.”</p>
<p><strong>Broken promises</strong></p>
<p>In this article we analyse the larger political implications of the above demands by the union leaders involved in the walkout, and what this reveals about politicians and capitalists’ attitudes toward workers. Trade unionists have pointed out the need for Sri Lanka to create the proper legal framework that respects workers’ right to freedom of association. The International Labour Organisation Conventions 87 and 98 refer to Freedom of Association but both are narrowly interpreted in Sri Lanka. Formation of trade unions has been restricted to only those factories that demonstrate a minimum membership of 40 per cent of workers. Furthermore, workers point to continuing intimidation and loss of rights in the workplace. Thus workers should have the right to create trade unions to take up individual grievances, even in the absence of a collective bargaining arrangement with management. While the National Workers’ Charter first formulated this demand in 1994, successive governments have yet to implement it despite promising to do so.</p>
<p>In addition to the political setbacks for organised labour after the strike of July 1980 was crushed, production has also been reorganised.<br />
Globally, companies are using subcontracting, outsourcing, and other “flexible forms of accumulation,” to use Marxist geographer David Harvey’s term, in order to circumvent labour standards, and to ensure a more pliant and docile workforce. In this regard, trade union demands to ensure permanent work is done by permanent workers are crucial. While pro-business establishment think-tanks and economists claim that Sri Lanka’s stringent labour laws have forced employers to turn to manpower agencies and other forms of disguised employment, this framing of the problem ignores the broader political economic context in which workers’ collective identity is being fragmented. For example, permanent workers may see manpower workers as a threat, rather than as allies in a broader front in the labour struggle.</p>
<p>It is clear that employers have the upper hand in this situation.</p>
<p>The State unfortunately has taken a hands-off approach at best, often colluding with capital on these issues, including guaranteeing workers’ basic incomes. While public sector workers’ salaries have been raised this year, next to nothing has been done for private sector workers.<br />
Trade union demands to gazette the cost of living and use the updated value are crucial in this regard. Employers claim that wages must be linked to productivity, but as the ILO Asia-Pacific Labour Market Update February 2015 puts it, significant gains in productivity have yet to be distributed to workers in the region. Moreover, politicians promote ad hoc policies to address cost of living increases – including subsidies and lowering the prices of fuel and basic goods – while ignoring the fundamental need to raise wages. The State then has been complicit with employers in stalling implementation of the cost of living index, which puts further pressure on workers’ livelihoods.</p>
<p>Finally, trade union demands to put forth a committee that can oversee the management of EPF funds is a critical yet neglected component of fundamental labour issues, and one that speaks directly to popular anger with corruption scandals. Workers’ salaries are deducted as part of retirement fund contributions, yet they have no say over how these contributions are managed. This has created an environment for the abuse of power. While employers might complain about politicians wasting financial resources, creating consultative committees that include labour representatives can ensure proper oversight of public funds. Surprisingly, the NLAC unanimously agreed to this demand, yet the State has not pursued the amendment. As a result, politicians and bureaucrats may very well continue to manipulate these funds for their own private gain, keeping the system stacked against workers and ordinary citizens.</p>
<p><strong>Labour and democracy</strong></p>
<p>For their own private reasons and interests, politicians and capitalists have converged in undermining recent attempts to strengthen labour rights through existing ‘tripartite’ mechanisms, as revealed by the trade unionists walkout from the NLAC meeting last year. Furthermore, even the democratic change of regime in January 2015 has not led to any progress with this backlog of agreements on labour. While commentators have posed the current national challenge as pertaining to issues of “corruption” and halting attempts to implement “good governance” under the current regime, the situation facing labour reveals deeper and pervasive problems with the Sri Lankan State. Therefore, any attempts to resuscitate democracy with the upcoming parliamentary elections should consider the broader implications of the setbacks facing organised labour.</p>
<p>In recent months, a dangerous discourse is emerging, which is calling for a change of the labour regime towards “flexible” labour laws, regardless of which new government comes to power. This would amount to a concerted attack on organised labour and democracy, further weakening the remaining protections for workers and citizens, including future workers in the country. Contrary to employers’ arguments, trade unionists do in fact support labour reform; a kind, however, that expands protections for workers, based on collectively formulated documents such as the National Workers’ Charter. Political actors that can seriously advance these proposals, however, may take time to coalesce. In this context, the urgent need of the hour is for the voting public to become aware of the democratic possibilities inherent in organised labour, and the progressive power of alliances between organised workers and other marginalised sections of society. These alone can put pressure on the State to fulfil its long overdue social democratic promises to workers and, more broadly, to Sri Lanka’s citizens.</p>
<p><em>This piece was published in The Sunday Times on <a href="http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150712/business-times/democracy-labour-rights-and-parliamentary-elections-156198.html" target="_blank">12 Jul 2015</a></em></p>
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</div> <!-- /.easy_social_box -->Sun, 12 Jul 2015 10:02:02 +0000webdev229 at http://economicdemocratisation.orghttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/democracy-labour-rights-and-parliamentary-elections#commentsThe Changing Significance of May Dayhttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/changing-significance-may-day
<div class="field field-name-field-commentaryimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://economicdemocratisation.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/1240088324may.jpg?itok=h0RPxJCZ" width="350" height="232" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/?q=authors/devaka-gunawardena" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Devaka Gunawardena</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/?q=authors/anushaya-collure" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Anushaya Collure</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/?q=authors/buddhima-padmasiri" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Buddhima Padmasiri</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>What is the significance of May 1st in Sri Lanka? Although it is a seemingly broad question, the connection between May Day and the larger workers’ struggle provides a useful opportunity to reflect on the successes and losses of the country’s labour movement. Toward this end, the authors of this article sat down and discussed with veteran unionists and organizers regarding both the history of May Day and contemporary challenges. The goal was to use May Day as a platform to discuss larger issues affecting labour organizing in Sri Lanka.</p>
<p>While May Day is a workers’ day celebrated internationally, it has its own unique history in this country. This includes the fact that it was made a public holiday in 1956 by the government of SWRD Bandaranaike. As a result, the rest of the article will focus on the changes to the unions involved in May Day in Sri Lanka, with implications for more systemic challenges to organized labour across the world. This includes the continuing fragmentation of workers’ identity in the context of neo-liberal globalization.</p>
<p><strong>Beginnings and political divisions</strong></p>
<p>May Day first emerged as a significant day of protest in Sri Lanka thanks to the efforts of the Communist Party and Lanka Sama Samaja Party during the 1940s and 50s. The result was a demonstration of workers’ militancy. After the day became a public holiday, however, it was increasingly incorporated into the programs of the bourgeois parties such as the SLFP and UNP, which organized their own unions. As DW Subasinghe (General Secretary, Ceylon Federation of Trade Unions) puts it: "Some workers began using it as a holiday for themselves.We had to work a lot to bring them to the demonstrations. The militant part of the workers on the May Day was reduced by this public holiday." Moreover, May Day celebrations eventually became bogged down by splits among party affiliates and political patronage.</p>
<p>Unions were forced to choose sides in what became an increasingly partisan game, which overshadowed previous debates about revolutionary strategy. Subasinghe singles out the United Front as particularly damaging for the trade union movement: "In 1970 the left parties joined Sirima Bandaranaike’s coalition. Then the May Day became an event of the United Front government, dominated by the SLFP. The whole procession was dominated first by the SLFP and its speakers. The left alliance also joined and they also spoke, but it changed the tone of the May Day." The left has yet to recover, and factions remain divided to this day over participation in the fractured United People’s Freedom Alliance, including breakaway factions of the CP and LSSP.</p>
<p><strong>Challenges to organized labour</strong></p>
<p>These political divisions are compounded by changes to the workforce that undermine organized labour. This includes both more concerted attacks on workers’ rights and the gendered composition of labour. In areas such as the Free Trade Zones and the plantation sector, labour is inhibited in its basic ability to articulate its demands. Padmini Weerasuriya (Executive Director, Women’s Centre) argues, "Successive governments so far have facilitated the investors keeping in line with the concept ‘profit and compliant labour’. Comparatively, they have done nothing towards the workers in the FTZs. Inevitably, workers are exploited; their basic human rights, labour rights and specifically women’s rights are severely compromised daily since the inception of the FTZs."</p>
<p>Moreover, the issues specific to these sectors also highlight the gender gap within unions. "If we look at the labour-force of the country, whatever sector it is, whether it is in the garment industry or the plantation sector, the majority 60 to 70 per cent of the workforce consists of women. But if we look at the leadership of the trade unions the leadership still remains predominantly male, plus in its political outlook," according to Menaha Kandasamy (General Secretary, Ceylon Plantation Workers Red Flag Union). At the same time, the changing makeup of the workforce entails new approaches to unions, including accessing donor funding. Questions remain however about the independence of organizations given these constraints and the shift away from the traditional tasks of movement building.</p>
<p><strong>Rethinking the role of unions</strong></p>
<p>In light of these challenges, we can draw perhaps two major dimensions from our discussions with labour organizers: 1) political splits and divisions among unions and 2) the capacity of organizations to deal with issues facing labour.</p>
<p>In terms of the first point, in the absence of a unified political program shared by unions and affiliated parties, continuing to emphasize the need for left unity is insufficient. One alternative, however, could be to identify everyday issues as class issues in order to explore the irrelevance to people’s lives. These could be dealt with around specific campaigns addressing common problems that affect broad swathes of workers. The current 2,500 rupee demand to increase private sector workers’ salaries is a useful example, insofar as it has brought together many diverse unions from across the political spectrum to put pressure on the government to fulfil its promises.</p>
<p>With regard to the second point, it is important to recognize the limits to donor-funded approaches and the need to re-start the basic task of developing unions’ membership base. Padmini Weerasuriya says,"In the case of the Women’s Centre, we have been able to balance our interventions effectively through external funding because the staffs come from a working class background and have the necessary experience to engage with workers effectively, focusing on issues which matter to the FTZ workforce." Similarly, Menaha Kandasamy proposes, "Donor agencies should support trade unions, but that should be targeted at sustaining the unions and labour struggles, and not by being project-focused and perpetuating the traditional male-elite outlook."</p>
<p>The problem, however, is that even amidst these caveats, when organizations rely on external funding they must often work around donors’ requirements in order to continue to access funding. In contrast, it would seem that discussion between leadership and the membership that sustains it and holds it accountable is the most effective method for achieving workers’ goals. In many cases this will require first building up a base. In the context of the FTZs this may be easier said than done, given employers’ restrictions, which impacts the collection of membership fees. At the same time political training and education for those workers who come from rural backgrounds and who may lack labour organizing experience is needed.</p>
<p><strong>Hope on May Day</strong></p>
<p>Despite the setbacks, there is still hope rethinking May Day in terms of the struggle to promote the dignity of labour, even as a loose set of commitments, while unions continue to work out difficult theoretical and practical issues. The question is what unions and workers’ organizations are currently able to embody the two perspectives outlined in the previous section, overcoming personal and political differences in order to work together. We should also keep in mind the possible negotiations between unions that occur during May Day, against the background of heated debates regarding reforms to the constitution.</p>
<p>Current political discussions about the relationship between state and society do not occur in a vacuum, which is why we should acknowledge the perspective offered by the unions that claim to represent the masses of the working people. Democratic demands such as the current proposed 19th amendment must be articulated with deeper demands for equality. Class equality remains one of the most powerful ideas in the modern political imagination, despite global setbacks including the historical path taken by socialist countries. Accordingly Sri Lanka’s unions brought together however tenuously by May Day will remain relevant until the transformation of the capitalist system that continues to make them a necessity.</p>
<p><em>This piece was also published in The Island on <a href="http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&amp;page=article-details&amp;code_title=124008" target="_blank">2 May 2015</a></em></p>
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</div> <!-- /.easy_social_box -->Thu, 07 May 2015 12:17:04 +0000webdev218 at http://economicdemocratisation.orghttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/changing-significance-may-day#commentsRethinking the value of labourhttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/rethinking-value-labour
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/?q=authors/devaka-gunawardena" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Devaka Gunawardena</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>What does the current “100 days” reform campaign mean for the working classes? In addition to the current raft of constitutional reforms proposed during the campaign, workers have taken up the opening in the political space to advocate for wage increases in the private sector.Currently unions are demanding a Rs. 2,500 increase across the board, to be passed as a legally-binding parliamentary act similar to the budgetary relief allowance of 2005. As it stands, the minimum wage paid to workers is around Rs. 10,000, though this also varies across sectors. This contrasts with employees in the state sector, who while receiving a minimum salary of Rs. 11,370, have nevertheless benefited from significant increases in the form of allowances. The gross salary is now Rs. 25,040, according to Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs, Dr. Harsha de Silva.</p>
<p>The Rs. 2,500 demand is part of a longer struggle to achieve parity between private and public sectors, the latter has many benefits. At the same time, however, private employers are opposed to a mandated increase. The employers’ argument as articulated by the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) hinges on two main claims: 1) the private sector can’t afford wage increases across the board and 2) there are already existing arrangements between workers and employers to negotiate for salary increases. In order to grasp the true implications of the current wage campaign, however, the debate must shift to take into account the real determinant of the value of labour. This is based on popular struggles to achieve fair compensation.</p>
<p><strong>Costs of production</strong></p>
<p>With regard to the EFC’s arguments, firstly, employers are shifting the burden to workers to cover costs, keeping wages low. In reality the question that should be asked is, what other material factors are at stake in the process of production? The EFC proposes the argument, for example, that smaller enterprises will be hurt by the wage increases. This ignores, however, systemic issues affecting the economy, including access to credit for small businesses, which was undermined by the global financial crisis.</p>
<p>Moreover, workers’ productivity is constrained by what’s available to work with. To use one example, in the Free Trade Zones (FTZs) people are physically pushing themselves to the limit to sustain production targets.</p>
<p>The argument that wages must be kept down in order to maintain profit for private enterprises ignores these factors that are outside workers’ control.</p>
<p>Secondly, employers claim that there are already pre-existing arrangements that cover workers’ bargaining with employers. These include the Wages Boards along with sector-specific Collective Bargaining Agreements. Nevertheless, these only cover a small proportion of workers.</p>
<p>According to an International Labour Organisation report, around 12 to 15 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 8 million-strong workforce is unionised, including the public and private sectors. The proportion of unionised workers would be significantly reduced if we only take into account the private sector, especially given the extent of unorganised labour, which constitutes 61 per cent of the labour force according to the Department of Census and Statistics.</p>
<p>Moreover, unions are undermined by fissures and splits, including some employers’ attempts to further fragment workers’ representation. Even as the EFC points to existing methods for achieving wage increases, it ignores the historical context and politics of patronage that has undermined workers’ organisation. As T.M.R. Rasheedin of the Ceylon Federation of Labour, puts it in the Sunday Times on March 1st, it appears to be an argument based on bad faith to assume that there are indeed effective mechanisms of redress for workers’ wages outside of government intervention. Instead it could be argued the real point of contention is that the Rs. 2,500 campaign highlights the possibility of creating a larger consciousness among workers, including breaking down arbitrary barriers between the private and public sector. It’s clear then that the justification for the wage and the method to achieve it must be sought elsewhere.</p>
<p><strong>Value of labour</strong></p>
<p>As Marx once noted, the value of labour is determined according to a “historical and moral element” that defines what workers need to reproduce their standards of living. In the case of Sri Lanka, these have been defined by policy-making analyses of the consumption basket. Currently an average household in Colombo requires Rs. 51,000 to sustain itself (calculated from Colombo Consumer Price Index, updated February 2015, base value 2006/07). As a trade unionist pointed out recently at a discussion, however, it would be preferable to create sector-specific consumption baskets that deal with people’s realities. These must take into account the often miserable conditions in which many in this country are forced to live, such as line rooms and hostels. As we get a better sense of how people actually survive, we come to the realisation that wages must be increased according to what is defined as a reasonable living.Moreover, wages are similar to recent proposed increases to subsidies in the budget and reduction of prices of key goods, insofar as they express collective assumptions about fair living standards. Debates about economic issues after the war have focused on issues of consumption such as the cost of living and corruption. It’s now time to deal, however, with questions raised by production. For example, FTZ workers are leaving jobs to migrate abroad. The struggle to find work even in degraded conditions is a critical issue facing many enterprises in the private sector, including the pressing question of the 16,000 vacancies in the FTZs. Workers in Sri Lanka and other southern countries demand a fair living, and this will continue to be brought to the forefront as people get onto the streets, as demonstrated by union protests this past month.</p>
<p><strong>Deepening “good governance”</strong></p>
<p>In the current conjuncture, concepts such as fairness and representation have reappeared in the political discourse with Maithri’s “good governance” campaign. The shift in rhetoric is a positive step that must be taken further. The fundamental relationship between state and society must be revisited. This must go beyond the narrow purview of the current constitutional debates. The question is why worker’s demands have been ignored amidst loud calls to reform society. Why is the popular media focussing almost exclusively on corrupt politicians? The answer should be to broaden the scope to tackle larger issues facing society. This will require further mass mobilisation to put pressure on the government to fulfill its promises, in order to counter-balance the lop-sided emphasis on making Sri Lanka attractive for investors.</p>
<p>Incorporating wage demands, contrary to employers’ arguments that it would “scare away capital,” would in fact strengthen Sri Lanka’s democracy and realise the promise of its institutions in achieving a fair society for all.</p>
<p>Currently there have been much discussion about the perks and privileges given to the previous regime’s cronies, but the next step should be to engage people’s everyday economic concerns. This returns us to the question of what democratisation after the defeat of the Rajapaksa regime actually means, and what deeper, more substantive meaning we attribute to it. Toward this end, increasing workers’ wages by Rs. 2500 is a fundamental aspect of the progressive transformation in the relationship between state and society.</p>
<p><em>This piece is also available in the Sunday Times on <a href="http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150329/business-times/rethinking-the-value-of-labour-141347.html" target="_blank">29 Mar 2015</a></em></p>
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</div> <!-- /.easy_social_box -->Tue, 31 Mar 2015 21:51:38 +0000webdev216 at http://economicdemocratisation.orghttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/rethinking-value-labour#commentsContradictions of the Sri Lankan Statehttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/contradictions-sri-lankan-state
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/?q=authors/devaka-gunawardena" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Devaka Gunawardena</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The policies of the Sri Lankan state since the late 1970s have seen a widening gap between its neo-liberal foundations and its attempts to claim popular legitimacy, and this structure of politics seems set to persist. This paper argues that the tension between neo-liberalism and populism is articulated in the disparity between the island's urban and rural areas, and vice versa. This defines contradictory aspects of the Sri Lankan state as we understand its appeal to different constituencies, both the new urban middle classes and increasingly impoverished small farmers. Instead of looking at how neo-liberalism deploys populism to garner mass support, the study examines the messy consequences of the ways in which populism attempts to manage the effects of neo-liberalism, manifest primarily in the increasing immiseration of the masses.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.europe-solidaire.org/IMG/pdf/contradictions_of_the_sri_lankan_state.pdf">Click here</a> for the full article (PDF)</p>
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</div> <!-- /.easy_social_box -->Tue, 31 Mar 2015 21:49:02 +0000webdev215 at http://economicdemocratisation.orghttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/contradictions-sri-lankan-state#commentsMaking good on promises to the private sectorhttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/making-good-promises-private-sector
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/?q=authors/buddhima-padmasiri" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Buddhima Padmasiri</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/?q=authors/anushaya-collure" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Anushaya Collure</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/?q=authors/devaka-gunawardena" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Devaka Gunawardena</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Over the last couple of months, Sri Lankans have been presented with two budgets for the year 2015. The one in October 2014 was introduced by the previous regime in order to ‘curry favour’ with the public ahead of the presidential election of January 2015. The other came from the newly appointed government following the election. Both governments made promises to increase workers’ salaries, but there is a discrepancy between the budgetary allocations and promises made to public and private sectors workers.</p>
<p>Initially, the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa introduced a Rs. 3,000 salary increment in October 2014 for the public sector. Later, the present government added Rs. 5,000 to this amount. Consequently, public sector workers will receive an increment of Rs. 8,000 as an “interim allowance,” which is not added to the basic salary. Workers in the private sector, however, have not been as fortunate.</p>
<p>Initially, private sector employees were promised an increment of Rs. 500 by the October 2014 budget and Rs. 2,500 by the budget of the present government, both of which have instead been left subject to the discretion of employers. It is against this background that the private sector workers recently started protesting, demanding the Rs. 2,500 increment, based on the request to employers made by the current government. On February 25th Free Trade Zone workers protested in Katunayake, demanding the Rs. 2,500 pay hike, and on March 12th trade unions representing the rights of private sector workers protested in Colombo demanding the same.</p>
<p><strong>Wage increase</strong></p>
<p>According to the Department of Census and Statistics, the average expenditure for a household in the year 2012/13 in Sri Lanka is Rs.41,444, and Rs.58,930 for the urban sector. This expenditure barely matches the income generation of the private sector where the average per capita income is Rs.11,819 and Rs.17,262 for the urban sector. Moreover, according to calculations based on the Colombo Consumer Price Index (updated February 2015, base value 2006/07) the cost of a basic consumption basket for the average household in Colombo is around Rs. 51,000. Beyond the disparity in household earnings and spending, the macro data indicates the high cost of living in this country.</p>
<p>Currently in Sri Lanka, the minimum wage for those working in the formal sector is regulated by the Wages Boards Ordinance No. 27 of 1941 and its amendment Act No. 36 of 1982. The minimum wage for a garment factory worker (Grade I, five years’ experience), for example, is a paltry Rs.11,330 per month. According to the Wages Boards Ordinance, the minimum wage consists of a basic wage and special allowances. It is supposed to be revised annually depending on the Colombo Cost of Living Index (CCLI) and Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), or at the behest of trade unions. Increases to the minimum wage are based on wage indexation, consumer price indexation and the assumption of a (decent) living standard.</p>
<p>The main issue for the private sector workers is that these procedures have not been implemented in the recent past. Normally in the absence of increments the workers have found relief through the Cost of Living Allowance. The Cost of Living Index has not been gazetted, however, since January 2009. A recent discussion at the National Association for Trade Union Research and Education (NATURE) with the Collective for Economic Democratisation in Sri Lanka (CEDSL) revealed that most factories rely on the last gazette allowance, ignoring the increase in the cost of living. As a result, workers face dire circumstances since they do not have the means to meet the rising cost of living. In addition to wage increases, the trade unions are also advocating for a national minimum wage for both the private and the public sector. In an earlier attempt, when trade unionists had made such a demand, the government instead introduced a Rs. 1000 monthly allowance to the workers whose monthly remuneration is Rs. 20,000 or below, through the Budgetary Relief Allowance Workers Act No. 36 of 2005. This was the last response workers received from the government, despite their persistent demands for a pay hike.</p>
<p><strong>View of the workers</strong></p>
<p>In order to gain a better sense of the implications of the wage hike on the ground, members of the CEDSL spoke to workers in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone. Those interviewed noted that at present the typical basic salary for a Machine Operator is Rs. 12750. The workers say that if the salary increase from the budget is given it will be added to the basic salary, from which the Employee Provident Fund contribution is also calculated. Otherwise all the other payments for them come in the form of allowances.</p>
<p>When the workers demand pay hikes from the management, however, they are often confronted with the excuse that an increase in pay is not possible as their productivity has not increased. According to the workers, however, this is not true. Often production targets are shifted as workers become more efficient in making products. While further cases need to be examined, the debate reflects the gap in perception between workers and employers.</p>
<p>One worker argued, for example, that the garment factory in which he works received awards for the best sample room in South Asia in 2013 and 2014. It has been selected as the first in the country. In this context, he said, the owners cannot say the production is low, even though this has often been used to justify lower wages. He further stated that his factory is placed at the seventh place in the top 10 garment factories in the world, which is a development from its earlier position at 13th place; meaning, production has been maintained at a high level for an extended period of time.</p>
<p>Given the lack of confidence in general toward management, private sector workers are banking on the government to implement a minimum national wage. As a remedial measure, workers demand the immediate implementation of the budgetary promise Rs. 2,500 as they need to live and provide for their families in an economic context characterised by increasing immiseration (economic impoverishment).</p>
<p><strong>Private sector demands</strong></p>
<p>Building on the rhetoric about “good governance” promoted by the current government, private sector workers at present are demanding the blanket implementation of the budgetary promise of Rs. 2,500. They argue that similar to public sector workers, as citizens of this country they are also entitled to decent living. While the government has begun to implement some of its promises for the public sector, the private sector however has been neglected. The wage demand is one step on the long road to achieving parity across the sectors.</p>
<p>The larger struggle, however, will require that the Colombo Cost of Living Index be gazetted in order to obtain an accurate Cost of Living Allowance. Furthermore, unions are requesting a national minimum wage. The wage will recognise the equal contribution of labour across private and public sectors. This must be introduced through a legally binding provision such as a parliamentary act, so that it will be not just a mere promise, but an entitlement for all who have contributed their labour to society.</p>
<p><em>This piece also appeared in The Sunday TImes on <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150322/business-times/making-good-on-promises-to-the-private-sector-140509.html">22 Mar 2015</a></em></p>
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</div> <!-- /.easy_social_box -->Sun, 22 Mar 2015 15:22:15 +0000webdev213 at http://economicdemocratisation.orghttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/making-good-promises-private-sector#commentsChallenging the West’s Narrative on Sri Lanka’s “Victory for Democracy”http://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/challenging-west%E2%80%99s-narrative-sri-lanka%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cvictory-democracy%E2%80%9D
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/?q=authors/devaka-gunawardena" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Devaka Gunawardena</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Of the many pieties that have been promoted in the Western media in the aftermath of Maithripala Sirisena’s victory over incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa in the recent Sri Lankan presidential election, none has been more cherished than the notion that Sri Lanka is now on board with “democracy.”[1] This claim is counter-posed to Sri Lanka’s recent cozy relationship with China and other authoritarian countries. A new Cold War is supposedly being fought, with Sri Lanka’s election reduced to its strategic relevance to policy makers.</p>
<p>At the same time the dominant narrative promoted by Western media and diplomats has been conveniently ignored in other places where it is considered politically unfeasible to support democracy. The same diplomats and officials that criticized the previous Rajapaksa regime have often argued that equally if not more repressive governments in places such as the Middle East are “on the path to democracy.” This claim temporizes the same political expectations that have been applied to Sri Lanka.</p>
<p>The Rajapaksa regime, however, easily caught hold of the West’s hypocrisy. In the run up to the election campaign, it canvassed posters through various front organizations. These posters showed in gory detail the devastation wrought by the West’s imperial adventures in countries such as Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Libya. Without knowing it, however, the Rajapaksa regime had already accepted defeat. It seemed to subconsciously accept the power the political apparatus of the West still has to define the terms of the global.</p>
<p>This is more practically evident in terms of capital’s relationship. The Rajapaksa regime relied more and more on private investors to shore up the government’s debt. Such dependence contrasts with the media’s fixation on the politically controversial Chinese presence. Moreover the regime attracted funding for mega development projects from around the world, including Western countries such as Australia. Foreign commentators have often chosen to ignore these more pervasive aspects of the West’s hegemony, implicitly assuming that citizens of other countries can only play out a script that has already been written for them.</p>
<p><strong>The significance of Sirisena’s victory for Sri Lanka</strong></p>
<p>In order to move past the West’s standards and measures and the Rajapaksa regime’s capitulation to these terms, it would be better instead to ask, what was actually at stake in the election for Sri Lankans themselves? As a whole Sri Lanka’s citizens collectively voted against Rajapaksa, perhaps most crucially in order to annul the increasingly repressive aspects of the regime. Western policy makers, however, would do well to avoid self-congratulation in trying to insert themselves into this story. Rather than a vindication of their narrative, Sirisena’s victory was in fact a stunning reversal of policy makers’ core assumptions. To identify the difference, we must first go back to an earlier period.</p>
<p>In the early 2000s, Ranil Wickramasinghe, then as now Prime Minister, championed the Norwegian-backed peace process between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers. In addition, he promoted a series of neoliberal reforms advocating privatization of state enterprises. Sinhala nationalists such as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and Jathika Hela Urumaya quickly articulated this connection. They managed to develop a popular campaign against the politically and economically-linked aspects of Wickramasinghe’s reforms which, they argued, sought to “divide the country” and render it susceptible to Western imperial interests.</p>
<p>Moreover, the peace process proposed political solutions that focused almost exclusively on high-level diplomatic negotiations between the government and the Tigers, erasing dissenting voices in Sri Lankan society. These included everyone from right-wing Sinhala nationalists to the Muslim community to politically progressive Tamil dissidents who bravely faced the wrath of the Tigers. Such constituencies could only be seen as “spoilers,” a view still implied even in Norway’s otherwise self-critical account of the process released in 2011, “Pawns of Peace.” Ultimately, however, it was the failure to engage people on the ground that led to the collapse of social support for the peace process.</p>
<p>In contrast, Sirisena’s election manifesto revealed a remarkable attempt to balance allusions to earlier policies of economic liberalization with the core tasks of fighting the Rajapaksa regime’s “corruption” and providing a people-friendly alternative. It was this ethos of compromise that in fact proved decisive in the election. It helped bring together a diverse coalition of actors from Sinhala nationalists to Tamil and Muslim political parties, communists to economic liberals. Whereas the peace process attempted to cordon off Sri Lankans from expert decision makers, the presidential election demonstrated the opposition’s attempt to work with a fragmented array of forces.</p>
<p><strong>Rethinking politics in other places</strong></p>
<p>Going forward, solutions for Sri Lanka’s problems, from democracy to the national question, will require messy compromises and respect for the inherent pluralism of the country’s political order. To a large extent, Sirisena’s campaign succeeded because it engaged with the local discourse and attended to debates within the country. It recognized that it first had to speak to people’s demands and expectations, rather than impose technocratic solutions prescribed by Western policy makers from above. In addition, it articulated some of the concerns of poorer and middle class constituencies that had been excluded from Sri Lanka’s supposedly high rates of post-war growth.</p>
<p>In this regard, perhaps given the right progressive push the aftermath of the opposition campaign might even be able to slowly change people’s assumptions about what is considered a viable solution to some of the above issues. For example, the post-war university teachers’ campaign to devote 6% of GDP to public education was incorporated into the opposition manifesto. While it may simply be a rhetorical gesture, the very acknowledgment of this demand nevertheless demonstrates the potential power of people’s movements to bring critical issues to the forefront.</p>
<p>Ultimately, interpreting the election results requires a principled response to the cynical attitudes of contemporary global power politics. This is expressed in much of the Western media’s patronizing view that Sri Lankans have simply reaffirmed their ability to make decisions as rational political actors by rejoining the “right” geopolitical camp. Only by critiquing the West’s taken for granted ability to define the meaning of democracy can we truly begin to acknowledge the agency of the Sri Lankan people—and for that matter other countries—in writing their own story.</p>
<p><em>This piece also appears in Kafila on <a href="http://kafila.org/2015/02/06/challenging-the-wests-narrative-on-sri-lankas-victory-for-democracy-devaka-gunawardena/" target="_blank">6 Feb 2015</a></em></p>
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</div> <!-- /.easy_social_box -->Fri, 06 Feb 2015 18:05:55 +0000webdev201 at http://economicdemocratisation.orghttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/challenging-west%E2%80%99s-narrative-sri-lanka%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cvictory-democracy%E2%80%9D#commentsLessons from the Lefthttp://economicdemocratisation.org/?q=content/lessons-left
<div class="field field-name-field-commentaryimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://economicdemocratisation.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Front%20Cover.jpg?itok=W8YvijoI" width="343" height="480" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/?q=authors/devaka-gunawardena" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Devaka Gunawardena</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>"There is a tendency to measure successes and failures purely in electoral terms, overlooking the influential role played by pro-left elements in the social, economic and cultural life of the people, and in shaping the thinking of the intelligentsia." – Santasilan Kadirgamar, "The Left Tradition in Lankan Tamil Politics"</p>
<p>A felicitation event for senior activist Santasilan Kadirgamar, held a couple months back at the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue on August 9, coincided with the launch of an important collection, Pathways of the Left in Sri Lanka, edited by Marshall Fernando and B. Skanthakumar. In the spirit of the above epigraph, the volume provides valuable recognition of the impact the Left has had on Sri Lanka. In terms of the contributions, the essays manage to cover quite a bit of material, all while re-emphasizing common themes in the history of the Left. Of course, the Left in Sri Lanka is currently defined more by its absence than its presence. At the same time both its historical contribution to culture and society and its continuing potential as a critical imaginary means we must take stock of its defeats and victories. Such a genealogy may enable us to obtain a critical perspective on the present and the apparently inexorable decline of the Left in Sri Lanka; a fate it shares with similar movements elsewhere around the world. In this regard, the collection is extremely useful for critically reflecting on these developments.</p>
<p>In the case of the essays they are organized both along thematic and historical lines. Generally the earlier chapters focus on the emergence of the Left, particularly the Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), from the 1930s to the height of its power as part of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party-led coalition government in the 1970s.Later chapters tend to focus more on the transformation and decline of the Left after the insurrection and subsequent repression of Sinhala Marxist youth led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in 1971.The quality and content of the contributions, similar to many other edited collections, is at times uneven. Some remain committed to organizing empirical materials, others are more theoretical and impressionistic, and still others biographical. Nevertheless while the strengths and weaknesses occasionally end up working against each other, the end result is a more polyvalent discourse that achieves the editors’ goal of pluralizing our understanding of the Sri Lankan Left and its possibilities.</p>
<p>The first two essays (Santasilan Kadirgamar, Jayadeva Uyangoda) provide a critical overview of the Left and the implications of its languages of emancipation and progress for Sri Lankan society. Uyangoda, for example, usefully discusses the vernacular translation of key concepts such as "class struggle" (panthi satana) into Sinhala. The second set of essays (Vijaya Vidyasagara, Vijaya Kumar, Paul Caspersz, Ajith Samaranayake, Pulsara Liyanage) address different topics concerning the Left including trade union activity, plantations, religion, media, and women’s participation. Vidyasagara and Kumar have compiled an impressive list of laws, regulations, and ordinances affecting working class organization. Both tend toward the line that over time unions became part of the existing politics of patronage within the state. Among the other essays as well, there is a wealth of fascinating information, including the controversy over Dr. NM Perera’s alleged claim that bricks should be taken from Ruwanwelisaya, the historic dagoba in Anuradhpura, to create something more publicly useful, such as toilets! These and other anecdotes offer interesting clues as to the public’s perception of the Left as well.</p>
<p>In the latter half of the collection, the third set of essays (Gamini Keerawella interviews with Lionel Bopage and Wimal Fernando) provides a useful set of self-reflections on the JVP. Keerawella usefully situates the generational distinction between the "Old Left" (LSSP, Communist Party, etc.) and the "New Left" in relation to global trends such as the student unrest of 1968.</p>
<p>Finally, the fourth set of essays (RohiniHensman, SumanasiriLiyanage, AhilanKadirgamar, Ganesan Sivaguru, Kumar David) address theoretical challenges for any new Left movement, including the impact of globalization and the under-theorized role of the state. Moreover, Kumar David offers a provocative essay on Left sectarianism with some useful prescriptions.</p>
<p>Despite the immense variation in scope of contributions, several common tropes and themes emerge. First among them is the notion that the Left has committed a series of theoretical and tactical blunders that caused it to be eclipsed by larger social forces, particularly ethnic nationalism. For some of the contributors, this begins with the Left’s failure to develop an independent coalition separate from the nationalistic Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1964. For others it’s the alleged adventurism of the JVP insurrection in 1971, which invited massive state repression and resulted in the deaths of thousands. And still for others, 1980 is the sign of the final blow against the Left as a result of then president JR Jayewardene brutally crushing the ill-considered General Strike, including dismissing 40,000 workers under emergency regulations.</p>
<p>While the proximate causes and dates change, there is an underlying sense that the lack of a rigorous strategic framework—on issues as varied as the national question or the distinction between revolutionary and parliamentary politics—compounded by petty interpersonal disagreements has caused the Left to fracture. At the same time there’s also a sense that the consequent tactical errors of the Left created insuperable challenges.</p>
<p>In this regard it’s useful to apply Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci’s distinction of a war of maneuver (involving a "frontal attack" on the state) versus a war of position (involving the slower accumulation of changes through struggles over institutions). The Left apparently still needs to learn the lessons of the latter in its confrontation with the state and dominant social forces.</p>
<p>Beyond the evaluative stances of the individual contributors, however, the collection more generally provides an archive of the Left, both in the literal bibliographic sense and as a repository of collective memory, including interviews with important figures of the movement. Firstly,Eef Vermeij and one of the editors, B. Skanthakumar, have compiled an exhaustive list of sources, including important party documents, though mostly in the English language, which they present at the end of the collection. Secondly, while the emphases, gaps, and meaning of the narrative shift depending on the perspective of individual contributors, they often emphasize key figures and events, contributing to the consolidation of Left discourse. If the Left has been defined as much by its defeats as its victories, it’s important to consider both in order to contribute to any possible re-imaging of the Sri Lankan Left today.</p>
<p>To conclude, while Pathways of the Left in Sri Lanka covers extensive ground, it doesn’t quite flesh out the alternative possibilities for the present moment. Changes since the late 1970s have yet to be effectively theorized in this collection or other texts for that matter. For example, what is the significance of the increasing prominence of the informal economy? What kinds of amorphous political actors does it entail? Theorists in India such as Partha Chatterjee and Kalyan Sanyal, for example, have struggled to account for the absence of a traditional working class, noting instead the rise of the unorganized sector located in India’s massive slums. More specific to Sri Lanka and its marginal position in the world, how has the rhetoric of anti-imperialism been increasingly appropriated by forces on the right? How might Sri Lanka’s pervasive economic dependence since the late 1970s contribute to xenophobic anxieties about "threats to the nation"articulated by the Bodu Bala Sena and other actors? These knotty questions require rethinking the Left’s traditional vocabulary of criticism.</p>
<p>Second how does the Left’s discourse relate to social scientific disciplines such as political science? Critically reflecting on the evolution of academic disciplines in Sri Lanka—for so long defined by Western policy-making, whether "development" or more recently "human rights"—requires taking into account the implications for the Left and its continuing theoretical innovation, which can then be connected back to concrete struggles. Here the work of authors during the 1980s such as Newton Gunasinghe and Charles Abeysekera continue to provide a benchmark for ways of reworking Western Marxism to develop innovative insights into the Sri Lankan situation. They redeployed Louis Althusser and other theorists to account for the increasingly unstable conditions of the peasantry and the impact of the free market "Open Economy" since the late 1970s, producing important studies in their wake. Future analyses might additionally move beyond economic relations to uncover potential new domains of politics, such as the role of student theater in social criticism and Sri Lanka’s rich tradition in the arts.</p>
<p>Whether these and futureanalyses are relevant to a Left party or trade union movement ultimately depends on the risks and action taken by political actors; the same kind that the forebears who are evaluated, criticized, and yet nevertheless honored in Pathways of the Left in Sri Lanka for their personal and collective sacrifices so insightfully demonstrate. The Left of course remains an "empty signifier" insofar as the boundary over who is or isn’t "Left" can be policed but never brought entirely under control. The most obvious example is the ambivalent attitude throughout the collection presented toward the JVP as a result of the latter’s propensity toward nationalist violence. Nevertheless despite the subsequent controversy, the "golden age" of the Left from the 1930s to the early 1970s has provided a legacy in which all Sri Lankans have participated and enjoyed in the form of various welfare measures and social protections.</p>
<p>Ultimately, Pathways of the Left in Sri Lanka provides fertile ground for continuing to think about the contested legacy of the Left and its lessons for those who remain committed to creating a just society.</p>
<p><em>This piece also appeared on The Island <a href="http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&amp;page=article-details&amp;code_title=112360">http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&amp;page=article-det...</a></em></p>
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